10 September 2018
"I don't know!" David Fickling laughs when asked why so many brilliant children's authors have wanted to work with him over the course of his career. The founder of David Fickling Books can count discovering Philip Pullman and partnering Jacqueline Wilson with Nick Sharratt among his professional achievements, but says he is not a calculated editor and has only recently learnt how to describe what he looks for in a manuscript.
"I'm always looking for the essence of the story: the voice, the feel, how good the prose is," he says. "If I read something and really love it, then I know it is right and that means I must do something about it."
